“It’s the Ghetto MedBot”: Flying Lotus Takes Us Inside His Body Horror Space Odyssey

To say that Ash, the latest directorial effort from the man born Steven D. Bingley-Ellison but better known as Flying Lotus, is his most coherent film to date isn’t saying much. FlyLo’s first film, Kuso, premiered at Sundance in 2017 and focused on Los Angeles mainstays who must adapt to life after a catastrophic earthquake. The catch? It’s all told through a series of four increasingly depraved commercials and vignettes that play on various TV sets. Ash features fewer bodily fluids than Kuso, though those who come for blood will not themselves wanting. His fourth full-length feature, it demonstrates a fascinating evolution of the multihyphenate’s artistic tendencies and, in many ways, the film’s more conventional structure provides a greater canvas for his madcap sensibilities and psychedelic style. 

The bare bones of Ash will likely be familiar to all who’ve played Dead Space or watched the Alien franchise, but what differentiates the film is its audacious tempo; it doesn’t so much “begin” so much as it assails and propels audiences into its violet-hued world. We meet Riya (Eiza González), who wakes up on a distant planet with all members of her crew dead and no recollection of who she is or how she got there. Her attempt to rediscover her identity is interrupted by the arrival of Brion (Aaron Paul), who claims to be a crew member responding to her distress signal. While most high-concept sci-fi may get lost in the (cosmic) sauce,, Lotus’s film manages to feel both elevated and faithful to the genre’s familiar tropes.

With FlyLo directing, starring, and composing the score, Ash is very much a calling card for his multifaceted talents. Ahead of the film’s premiere at the Paramount Theater in Austin for the 2025 edition of SXSW, I talked to him about working at the intersection of music and filmmaking, the body horror renaissance, and why getting your ass beat by Indonesian legend Iko Uwais (who plays Riya’s captain, Adhi, in the film) is a badge of honor.

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ZACHARY LEE: How are you feeling about your premiere tonight?

FLYING LOTUS: Goodness, man, I’m so ready. I’m really terrified, but it’s been a long time coming. I’m ready for this thing to be out in the world.

LEE: I’ve screened it twice now, just on my laptop. It still hits.

LOTUS: A laptop? Goddammit.

LEE: I’m going tonight, so don’t worry. It’s funny because I was watching it last night and I was like, “I cannot wait to see people’s reactions when Aaron’s face does—”

LOTUS: No spoilers. 

LEE: No spoilers. I appreciate you crafting those cool moments, though.

LOTUS: Thanks.

LEE: I’d love to hear how the Ash script came to you. I know Tessa Thompson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were involved at some point in 2022. You were talking about how it’s been a long time coming, so I’d love to hear about the project’s origins and your development with it.

LOTUS: I finished a show for Netflix called Yasuke, an anime series. Shortly after that—this was 2019, I think—the script for Ash came around, and I just couldn’t put it down. It reminded me of all my favorite stuff, but it was still open enough for me to bring things to it. I pitched it to the XYZ [Films] folks and I think they saw what I was seeing. While we were trying to cast it, I was also taking that time to study visual effects. I learned Unreal Engine and started coming up with a few shots. 

LEE: You did?

LOTUS: There were a couple shots that actually ended up in the movie. They were improved by the VFX team that we had, but it was really cool to see these things that I was just kind of tinkering around with. It was a lot of fun to dig into it on such an early level and, to have sat with it for so long, I could build out some of the lore and some of the backstory before anything really started to take off.

LEE: I was reading that you cited what Guillermo del Toro said, “Direct the movies that need you to make them.” I love the idea that you’re bringing in your visual sensibilities, but you’re doing world-building, too. Was it Kuso, the anthology movie that you did? There’s world-building and lore there.

LOTUS: That’s what’s so fun to me about this. It’s not just the end result. It’s all the possibilities. It’s the lore, the questions you get to ask, the little Easter eggs. If you’re paying attention, it really helps to solidify the world you’re watching. That’s what makes it fun—and practical effects, puppets, and gore.

LEE: Well, we’ll get into the gore. This is a movie where things go into all the holes in your body.

LOTUS: [Laughs] It’s confrontational at times.

LEE: On the lore, let me know if I’m reading into this, but the way the surgery machine was talking, I was like, “Is this his Zojirushi rice cooker? Is that what it’s giving right now?”

LOTUS: It’s inspired by all that stuff. If you’ve ever been to Japan, you hear those voices all the time with the most interesting little gadgets. Some of them will probably fall apart after a year of use, but that’s kind of how the MedBot is to me. The MedBot itself is a piece of equipment that is probably lower tier in this world. It comes from a really bad manufacturer somewhere. It’s the ghetto MedBot. That’s what they got over there.

LEE: The Temu of the asteroid planet.

LOTUS: Absolutely.

LEE: It’s really funny. I was getting “Dead Space” or “Alien” or “Callisto Protocol” vibes. You have so many influences. You’re deep in the music world, too, so I’m curious what was on your mood board for this movie?

LOTUS: That’s a great question, and you nailed a few of them. I loved the “Dead Space” series. “Callisto Protocol” was cool. They fumbled a little bit on that, but the atmosphere is unmatched.

LEE: Totally. The vibe of the opening, I thought, was kind of like that.

LOTUS: You know what else? It’s funny that you say it because I didn’t watch Alien as much, but I played “Alien: Isolation” all the way through. I got to the point where I was like, “I’m scared, turn it off.” But then I was like, “You know what? I want to do the whole journey of it.” Because it’s so immersive and puts you in the place of the character, and that’s how I wanted you to feel in Ash. I took a lot of video game stuff— “Resident Evil,” “Silent Hill,” “Death Stranding.” There’s little bits of games all in this. The little Easter egg, as I keep saying, is there’s a safe room in the movie. There’s a place where nothing bad happens, and there’s chill music and medical patches and stuff.

LEE: That’s really neat. I don’t know if it’s in the budget, but an Ash video game, I’d be down to play that.

LOTUS: To be honest with you, I was messing around with Unreal Engine a bit and trying to make a demo that was kind of a prequel.

LEE: That’d be cool.

LOTUS: It would be cool. Someone should pay for it, though.

LEE: After the premiere, I bet the calls will be coming in.

LOTUS: What I’ve been thinking about is a little comic book to go with it—a companion comic.

LEE: Flesh out that lore, as you were saying. I was listening through the “OXYGENE” song that you crafted for this and I was like, “Will Captain Murphy be making an appearance?” 

LOTUS: Making his way to space? That’d be fun.

LEE: You’re starring in this. You’re directing this. You’re making music. What’s it like being so invested in a project when you’re drawing on all of your skills as a creative?

LOTUS: It was a challenge. It tested me in every way possible. It tested my patience, my personal relationships. It was a lot getting to this point, but it was really cool to get the confidence along the way to see, if I have this little inkling of a thing, if it can be fleshed out and developed and brought to life. When we were doing the MedBot stuff, I was terrified because I was like, “Is it going to look good? Is it going to look rinky-dink?” It was probably the worst day on set for me, the extraction scene. 

LEE: That’s tough.

LOTUS: It was a tough time. I had no confidence in the VFX at that point, just because I hadn’t seen it. I didn’t know what it was going to be like, and we were relying on that to come through. But I have a lot more faith in the post-production process now and the things that can be achieved. It’s so inspiring for whatever comes next. Hopefully, something does come next.

LEE: For sure. In those scenes—especially because this is still an indie movie—they’ll try to hide some stuff by making things super dark. But you’ve got all the bisexual lighting in here. We’re seeing everything. Iko Uwais is terrifying when he’s smiling, and he has blood all over his face. You did not shy away from showing the horrors, so I thought that was really neat. 

LOTUS: No. You have to live up to the promise of a horror film these days. You make a promise to your audience that you’re going to give them something to wince at or something to turn away from. It’s a promise, and I don’t want to break my promise.

LEE: We’re kind of in a renaissance moment with body horror, specifically.

LOTUS: Oh my god. Are you going to ask me about The Substance? Yo, why is that the greatest film of all time? Jesus. Citizen Kane, get the fuck out of here. I was so insanely jealous when that movie came out. I just couldn’t believe that someone got away with that. I was like, “Are you freaking serious? Someone paid for this, first off. Someone said this was okay, and you got Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in this.” She just pulled off a masterpiece. I think it’s so cool, so smart, and it’s such a great thing to exist right now because it’s showing the world that people want to see films that are taking risks. They want to see people try different things. It’s awesome.

LEE: Your film has a lot of fun action, but I was really touched by this throughline of, “Can we understand each other and how do other people have a role in shaping our identity?

LOTUS: There’s an interesting thing about it. If you don’t know who you are and only have someone telling you who you are, are you going to be that person? I don’t know if you’ve watched Severance. I love those scenes where they’re talking to Ms. Casey and telling them what their outie is like. “Your outie likes synthesizers and loud beats.”

LEE: What’s Fly Lo’s outie?

LOTUS: That’s it right there. Or, “Your outie loves video games and anime.”

LEE: Another concept I was thinking about was how the action was staged in the film. It’s fun because, if you have Iko in this movie, he’s got to kick all kinds of ass, and he does. You delivered.

LOTUS: Thank goodness. I was worried because I wanted more Iko.

LEE: You wanted more?

LOTUS: Oh my god. I was like, “Can you stay a little longer and beat my ass? We’ll find a reason for you to beat me up on camera.” I want to learn the stunts and the moves, too.

LEE: Shooting the action, what was that like?

LOTUS: I’ll be honest. That was the most fun because, I don’t know if you’ve ever hung out with stunt people, but they are a blast. They are so cool. Some of my best memories of being on set was all the stunt work. We had an amazing stunt double for Eiza [Gonzalez], Elodie Pretorius. She just threw herself all over the place and did the most badass stuff and everybody was wowed by it. I have such a huge respect for the stunties, and I’m just so mad that they still don’t have an Oscar yet. 

LEE: They need it.

LOTUS: They got to give the stunties an Oscar at some point. They’re throwing themselves around for our entertainment. Like, come on.

LEE: It’s got to be a movie that you do, though. You need to make a crazy stunt movie after this, and that’ll be the kickstart. 

LOTUS: Man, if The Fall Guy couldn’t do it with Ryan Gosling, what am I going to do?

LEE: No, I believe in you. Last thing I was just going to say, I saw Zack Fox’s movie Lurker over at Sundance, and I know you two have collaborated on stuff—

LOTUS: What is this?

LEE: It’s called Lurker. He was in it. He’s great, so funny.

LOTUS: He’s the best, man.

LEE: I was like, “I need to see more of his stuff.” I hope you all can do more together.

LOTUS: I would love to. When I met Zack, I just saw him as, “Yo, we got to do the buddy comedy. We’ve got to work together forever.” I haven’t seen him since. [Laughs] Sorry, I just started imagining our future together, making several films back to back to back. I ain’t heard from that guy in forever.

LEE: You’re like, “PSA, let’s get back on it.”

LOTUS: Yeah, let’s go.

LEE: Well, thank you for your time. I’m excited to see the movie on the big screen today.

LOTUS: Thank you so much.